Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies

The man was around forty years old, a burly figure with thick eyebrows and large eyes set in a square face.

His features were rather regular, but his face was covered in exaggeratedly sagging wrinkles, making him resemble a Shar Pei dog.

After entering the 32nd floor, his eyes filled with caution, he looked left and right and then swiftly gestured with his hand outside the fire exit for a halt.

Jiang Yan frowned upon seeing this.

It seemed like the other party had quite a few accomplices.

But she decided not to act rashly and chose to observe a bit longer.

On the other side, there was no noise coming from Sun Jingtao and the others’ room either.

Outside was a raging storm, but such sounds probably woke them up, and they might be standing behind the door, observing through the peephole now.

Even though the hallway was pitch black, unlike herself with an infrared surveillance camera, they wouldn’t be able to see clearly, but they could still make out figures.

The square-faced man was now crouching and quietly heading towards door 3203.

Originally, it was the residence of He Chunmei and her family, but after they were all gone, the door had remained open.

Because others were wary of Jiang Yan and Sun Jingtao’s group, this room was deemed a “haunted house”, and no one else dared to move to the 32nd floor for the time being.

However, the items inside had been removed long ago during the night by the people from downstairs, as if ants were moving house.

At first, everyone only took food, water, tissues, bed sheets, quilts, clothes, pots and pans, and the like.

Later, as more people started living in the hallway, even things like bed frames and tables and chairs that could be used as firewood were taken downstairs.

Now, the room was empty, and the contents were obvious at a glance.

The man came out in less than half a minute.

After looking around as usual, he then waved towards the outside of the fire exit.

Soon, three middle-aged individuals—one man, two women—and a girl who appeared to be six or seven years old entered cautiously.

The little girl held a small duck-shaped and a small swan-shaped life buoy in her hands, with a backpack stuffed with miscellaneous supplies on her back, looking weary and a little lost as if she had just woken up.

The other man was also bald, but with fewer wrinkles on his skin and a thinner, shorter stature.

The two women had unevenly cut bob-style hair and held their heads down slightly, looking very tired.

All three carried large bundles tied up with bed sheets on their backs and were holding many things in their hands.

They quickly filed into room 3203.

But just a few seconds later, the four adults came out.

They tiptoed down the stairs quickly.

Jiang Yan guessed that they had gone to transport the remaining supplies.

She didn’t really mind others moving in to live here.

It was something she had expected anyway.

Plainly put, as long as they didn’t pose a threat to her, everyone’s actions and behavior had nothing to do with her.

Most importantly, that room wasn’t hers.

Jiang Yan checked the time; it was exactly four in the morning.

About twenty minutes or so later, the four reappeared at the fire exit, each carrying a heap of items and looking red-faced and out of breath.

As usual, they quickly headed towards room 3203.

Just then, with a “creak”, the door to room 3204 opened.

Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing stepped out.

Su Dai followed behind them, holding the kind of alcohol burner used for heating in laboratories.

The wind was blowing in the hallway, causing the flame to dance. She quickly raised a hand to temporarily shield it.

The four people about to enter room 3203 halted their steps and exchanged glances.

“Fatso…” The thinner and younger man looked at the square-faced man, wanting to say something but hesitated.

The square-faced man signaled the other three to go inside first. Then he set down his load and took a step closer to Sun Jingtao’s trio, saying,

“I’m sorry for disturbing you three in the middle of the night.” After a pause, seeing Sun Jingtao’s gaze on the broken lock chain on the ground, he quickly added,

“I was the one who broke that chain. I just happened to find a suitable one amongst the supplies; I will lock it up again in a moment.”

Listening to him, the remaining three didn’t go inside but placed their loads on the ground.

Their expressions were obviously not as calm as the square-faced man’s, but they still stood behind him, their gaze tense as they watched Sun Jingtao’s group.

It was then that Jiang Yan noticed that among the two women, the younger one had a slightly bulging abdomen.

In normal times, you might say she had gained weight or had a little belly.

But under the current circumstances of lack of food and clothing, and with their skeletal thinness, it was clear she was pregnant.

The other one had swollen red eyes and tear stains on her face, likely from crying earlier.

Both women were in a bad state, looking haggard and weak, with an air of despondency.

Sun Jingtao did not respond to the man’s words; instead, he cast a wary glance over the group and spoke indifferently, “Who are you?”

They had previously locked the door to guard against a possible stealth attack by Ma Longbiao’s group in the middle of the night.

But these new faces, hauling their families with them, were obviously ordinary folks.

Nor were the three present rude or arrogant enough to monopolize the entire 32nd floor.

As he spoke, Sun Jingtao was observing the group in the faint light.@@novelbin@@

The light was so weak that it was better than nothing.

But he still roughly made out their faces. They were strangers to him.

He glanced at Ye Qing and Su Dai. Both shook their heads.

Sun Jingtao rapidly considered two possibilities:

One, these people weren’t longtime residents of Shallow Bay Building A.

Second, the group was either recent renters or from elsewhere, having moved in due to the emergency.

However, since their clothes were not wet, they most likely fell into the category of recent renters.

“We are co-tenants from unit 1803 on the eighteenth floor, and tonight my wife went for a nighttime bathroom break and noticed that the water level was almost at the seventeenth floor, which was quite dangerous. So we had no choice but to gather our belongings and move up in the middle of the night,” the man explained, then subtly touched his nose.

Jiang Yan furrowed her brows.

The water level had risen so quickly with the second wave of rain… and the night wasn’t even over yet.

But right now wasn’t a good time to turn on the light to check.

It was pitch-black all around, and turning on a flashlight would be too glaring.

The man gave an embarrassed smile and continued,

“Brother, if I’m not mistaken, you must be Sun Jingtao, right? We’ve heard of your names down there, we are aware that the person in unit 3201 and you three are capable people. Our two families are honest farmers who moved to Anming to work. We’ll make sure not to cause you any trouble after moving up here.”

The man paused, seeing that the three opposite him were silent, then went on,

“I forgot to introduce myself; my name is Zhou Wei, but you can call me Fatty or Fatty Zhou. I used to be really overweight, so I’m used to that nickname, although I’ve lost a lot of weight these days. Then that’s my wife, Wang Jiamei; that’s my fellow villager, Wang Jin; and his wife, Wen Wanli.”

“You moving up here is understandable, but you could have knocked instead. Why did you break the lock?” Su Dai suddenly asked from behind.